The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Networks include network objects such as firewalls, routers, and servers. The manner in which network objects are linked together is commonly referred to as a network topology. A network topograph graphically represents a network topology. A user may view a network topograph in a graphical user interface of a network management application as displayed on a computer monitor.
Networks may include many network objects. Some networks include thousands of network objects. Due to the usually constrained viewing areas of computer monitors, a network topograph for such a large network on a monitor could be displayed in one of several ways.
One way of displaying such a topograph involves displaying the entire topograph within the monitor's viewing area. This is accomplished by scaling down the dimensions of the visual representations of the objects and links in the topograph. This approach may be referred to as a scaling approach. Unfortunately, if the network is sufficiently large, then the scaled representations of the objects and links in the topograph may become illegible or indistinguishable from one another, defeating the purpose of the topograph.
Another way of displaying such a large topograph involves displaying only a sub-area of the topograph on the monitor. In this way, a user may employ scrolling controls, apparent in the graphical user interface or otherwise known to the user, to select the specific sub-area. This approach may be referred to as a scrolling approach. Unfortunately, this places the burden of visualizing the entire network topology on the mind of the user, defeating the purpose of the topograph.
Yet another way of displaying such a large topograph involves organizing the network topology as a tree structure. Network objects are represented as nodes of such a tree structure. Child nodes of a parent node represent network objects that are directly linked to the network object represented by the parent node. By selecting a parent node, a user may reveal or conceal the child nodes of a revealed parent node. This approach may be referred to as a tree structure approach. Unfortunately, the placement of nodes as children or parents relative to each other may have little or no relation to the actual topology of the network. Therefore, locating desired information in the tree structure is often a frustrating task.
Another way of displaying such a large topograph involves partitioning the topograph with a grid. The contents of each square in the grid may be scaled or otherwise abstractly represented. Thus, the entire grid may be displayed within an interface, although the contents of each grid square may not be determinable from the display of the entire grid. A user may select one grid square to obtain an explosive view that includes the contents of that grid square. This approach may be referred to as a grid approach. Unfortunately, the inclusion of network objects within any given grid square may have little or no relation to the actual topology of the network. Therefore, locating desired information in the grid is often a frustrating task.
Finally, another way of displaying such a large topograph involves displaying only select routers of the represented network within an overall display of the topograph. Network objects connected to a displayed router may be obscured in the overall display. A connection of such obscured objects to a displayed router may be indicated in the overall display by modifying the color of that router. By selecting an indicatively colored router, a user may reveal the formerly obscured objects connected to that router. This approach may be referred to as a router display approach.
Unfortunately, while the overall display may show links that indicate an ultimate accessibility between routers (possibly through other obscured network objects), the overall display does not necessarily show direct connections between network objects. For purposes (e.g., security management) in which a user needs to determine all direct connections, in a network, between network objects of a certain kind (e.g., firewall objects) and network objects not of that kind, the router display approach is less than perfect.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for a way in which a user may efficiently determine all direct connections, in a network, between network objects of a certain kind and network objects not of that kind.